Tennessee reporter 'fully confident' that 'the Titans did not break any protocol'

Normally what Pittsburgh Steelers fans want more than anything else on any given Sunday is a win from their team.

This Sunday, Steelers fans will get something almost as good: a permanent excuse.

If the Steelers don’t make the playoffs, or don’t win the division, or don’t win the Super Bowl, I can hear it already.

“Let me tell yinz right now, if da’ Stillers didn’t have to postpone that game in Tennessee, ’dey woulda gone all the way this year!”

This Sunday’s postponed Steelers-Titans game may become a gift that keeps on giving. Because now, if (as repeatedly suggested) those two teams end up playing in Week 7, and the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens end up playing in Week 8 instead, we’ll never run out of presumptive scenarios.

• If the Steelers lose in Nashville whenever the game is rescheduled, “They woulda won if the game was played on time!”

• If the Steelers lose to the Ravens in Week 8, “They woulda won if they had been coming off a bye like the schedule originally said!”

• If the Steelers lose to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9, “They woulda won if the league didn’t move the Ravens game to the week before!”

• If the Steelers do anything but win the Super Bowl, “They woulda won it all if they didn’t have to play 13 weeks in a row, n’at!”

It’s beautiful, really.

We don’t even have to play out the rest of the season. Let’s just fast forward to the 2021 NFL Draft right now. Who is Bill Belichick’s dog going to pick this year?

BELICHICK GAVE THE DOG A TREAT AFTER THE PICK pic.twitter.com/drWifhNiXZ

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) April 24, 2020

Think I’m exaggerating? Read our “U mad, bro?” responses sometime around mid-November and get back to me.

Sarcasm (kinda) aside, that is the exact kind of preemptive excuse-making Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wants to deflect from his team.

After Thursday’s practice, addressing the media for the first time since the postponement of the game in Nashville was made official, Tomlin was asked about the potential physical toll of playing 13 straight weeks without a bye.

“We do not care,” Tomlin succinctly replied.

In 2001, after 9/11 adjusted the NFL schedule, those Steelers went 13-3 and wound up in the AFC Championship game despite playing 13 straight weeks. In 2005, the team had a Week 4 bye and won the Super Bowl. The 2010 AFC Championship roster had its bye in Week 5.

In all likelihood, there will be a team or two this season who will post a similar mark. So it’s understandable why Tomlin wants to stem the “woe is us” mentality right now before it percolates once the Steelers schedule gets tougher later this month.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he has to agree with the NFL’s decision to reschedule the game for a later date on the calendar.

Some were anticipating the Steelers and Titans playing on Monday or Tuesday instead, if the Titans stopped getting positive tests. Failing that hope, many expected the Titans to just deal with a depleted roster and no practice time then play anyway.

Or forfeit.

But when I asked Tomlin if he felt the league made the right decision in delaying the game for an undetermined length of time, Tomlin said, “My opinion does not matter. We take marching orders from the National Football League. We understand that they’re acting in our collective best interest.”

There’s truth in that statement. I mean, let’s be honest. Optics only work if people can’t see right through them.

That’s been the most frustrating part of living in a covid world. Decisions being made for the sake of “optics,” when everybody is looking at the decisions knowing they were being made for the benefit of appearance and not practicality.

“Political theater” as I heard it (accidentally) described in Bucks County recently.

And all the expanded practice squads and flexible injured reserve lists and massive testing in the world couldn’t fix one obvious flaw in logic.

A game that wasn’t totally “safe” to be played on Sunday, probably wasn’t going to be totally “safe” to be played on Monday or Tuesday either. Especially since additional Titans players keep coming up positive in daily tests.

Jon Burton (NewsChannel 5/WNSR SportsRadio) in Nashville joined me for Friday’s podcast. He used to work at WTAE-TV and 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh.

For as much heat as the Titans are getting for being the first team with multiple cases, Burton thinks the criticism is misplaced. He insists that Titans head coach Mike Vrable runs too tight of a ship for that team to get sloppy applying the NFL’s health and safety guidelines.

“Mike Vrable is a lot like Mike Tomlin,” Burton says. “Structured guy. Attention to detail. No stone unturned. I am fully confident in telling you that the Titans did not break any protocol.”

In the podcast, Burton and I also talk about what would’ve happened in the game had it been played. We compare the 3-0 starts in 2020 for both teams. He gives us the Tennessee fanbase’s point of view on the delay. And we talk about Justin Timberlake’s efforts to bring a Major League Baseball team to Nashville.

Maybe they’ll try to lure the Pirates from Pittsburgh?

“No. We gotta do better than that,” Burton said.

He’s probably right.

LISTEN: Tim Benz and Jon Burton talk about the Steelers-Titans rescheduled game and its impact on each team